


Five Times Bayley Hugged Hideo (and one time he hugged her back)

by Mithen



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Celebrations, Cultural Differences, Episode Tag, Gen, Hugs, Injury, Second Language Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-04-18 13:29:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4707662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mithen/pseuds/Mithen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hugging isn't a big part of Japanese culture, so at first Hideo Itami isn't sure what to make of Bayley (but he knows he likes her).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Times Bayley Hugged Hideo (and one time he hugged her back)

**Author's Note:**

> For a prompt on the wrestling kink meme!

The first time Bayley hugs him, when they meet at the Performance Center, Hideo Itami isn’t sure exactly what to do. Americans hug so often and so easily, and Hideo isn’t sure how they manage to negotiate whose arms go where in that split-second, so he just goes still and lets her hug him. He’s afraid she’ll be offended, but maybe she’s worked with Japanese wrestlers before, because she just smiles up at him. “It’s great to meet you!” she says, and squeezes him once more, gently, before letting go.

“I’m afraid she’s always like that,” says William Regal with a tolerant smile as she bounds away down the corridor. “I’m sorry, I hope you’re not offended.”

“Me?” Hideo blinks at him. “No.”

“Well, no Japanese person I know is comfortable hugging, and it’s rather an invasion of your personal space…”

“It’s not…” Hideo grimaces, trying to find a way to express something so complicated in the English he has available. “We don’t hug, no. It’s just...not part of our culture. But 'invasion'...no.” _Invasion_ is such a strong word, he wants to say--enemies invade, rivals invade. He feels, instead, welcomed. Self-conscious, awkward, certainly--but welcomed. He’s glad she treated him like any other wrestler, that she didn’t try bowing.

He tries to frame all of this in English, but the grammar gets tricky, and he gives up in frustration.

“She’s nice,” he says instead, and that’s certainly true enough.

* * *

The second time Bayley hugs him, it’s right after Becky Lynch has turned on her and attacked her, allying with Sasha Banks. Hideo watches it helplessly on the monitors, yearning to run out there and beat someone up--but no, that probably wouldn’t go over terribly well. And Bayley has to fight her own battles, he knows that.

But still.

Beside him, Sami Zayn and Finn Balor are using words he’s heard other English-speaking wrestlers use now and then--not on television--and he realizes he’s not the only person frustrated.

Later, well after the show, he rounds a corner and finds her sitting alone in an empty hall. Her eyes are red and her shoulders slumped. “Bayley,” he says. “I’m sorry. She is a bad person.”

“No she’s not, not really,” says Bayley as he sits down next to her on the floor. “She’s afraid, and ambitious. She feels bad about it already, I can tell. I--I feel sorry for her, more than anything.”

Hideo’s not so sure. For once, he thinks maybe the simple descriptions are more accurate. But if makes Bayley feel better to feel sorry for Becky instead of herself, he can understand that. “You’re a good person,” he says quietly. “You deserve better.”

“Oh, Hideo,” she says in a voice choked with tears, and throws her arms around him.

It happens so fast that he can do nothing but blink, and this time it’s even more difficult, because at least the first time they were facing each other--now they’re side by side, and how do you even return a hug when someone is _next_ to you? This is clearly Advanced Mode Hugging, and he hasn’t even gotten the basics down yet. So he just clears his throat awkwardly and lets her cry on his shoulder. 

After a moment he leans his cheek on her glossy hair and repeats, “You’re a _good_ person,” and she cries harder, but it doesn’t seem to be the bad kind of crying.

* * *

The third time, he's in the middle of an argument with Tyler Breeze in the gym--he doesn't quite understand how it began, something complicated and pointless (like Breeze himself). But now they're pushing and shoving each other, and it seems likely to come to blows. Hideo doesn't want it to, but he's not sure exactly how to get out of it without retreating, giving ground to Breeze, and he isn't going to do that. One more shove, he promises himself silently, and Breeze is going to get kicked so hard he won't get back up. Breeze reaches out, and Hideo readies himself, and--

"Tyler!" Suddenly Bayley is there, throwing her arms around Breeze, who goes stock-still, face blank and foolish. "Good morning, Tyler! You're looking so good this morning!"

"Um," says Breeze.

"And Hideo!" she chirps, whirling to hug him in turn. " _Ohayo!_ That means 'Good morning,' doesn't it?"

"Good morning," he replies mechanically, holding his arms out to his sides. He glances at Breeze, who sneers and backs away, and the fraught moment has passed, the standoff is over.

Bayley looks up at him and winks, and he realizes she knows exactly what she's done. Then she grins and heads off again, saying good morning to everyone, smiling, innocuous.

"Well," says a sulky voice, and Hideo turns back to Breeze, who's picked up his fur-trimmed gym bag and slung it over his shoulder. "At least we can agree that getting hugged by her is an ugly experience."

Hideo frowns as Breeze stomps out of the gym and is suddenly aware of two things. The first is that he really, really wants to beat Tyler Breeze.

The second is that he wants to be a better hugger.

* * *

However, he doesn't get a chance, because the fourth time Bayley hugs him is WrestleMania weekend, just after he defeats Finn Balor for the chance to be in the Royal Rumble. The adrenaline is still roaring through him and he still can't quite believe it, the crowd is teeming around him and she just darts in and throws her arms around him.

He starts to laugh helplessly as exhaustion and exaltation battle in his heart, and he staggers against her. "I did it," he says.

"You did it!" she yells back at him, bright and joyous. "You're amazing!" 

She jumps up and down with her arms around him a few times, then lets go and darts away, and he realizes he totally failed to hug her back. _"Shikuso,_ " he mutters to himself.

"Hey, do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" says Finn Balor, coming up behind him. "I just mean, that's pretty strong language," he adds as Hideo stares at him, puzzled.

"I am angry because I--What is the English word? I _suck_ at hugging," Hideo says.

"We all have our strengths and weaknesses," says Finn, clapping him on the back. "Your weakness is hugs. Your strength--"

"--is kick," Hideo finishes for him.

"And beating Irishmen to go to WrestleMania," Finn agrees.

* * *

He's ready for her the next time, when he comes back to the Performance Center after his surgery, and he's willing, but--

He tries to lift his arm as she puts hers around him, but the sling hampers his movement, and a twinge of pain digs into his shoulder and makes him wince.

"Oh!" she says, and jumps backwards, clapping her hands to her mouth. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, no," he says. "It's okay. I tried to hug back and--"

"You don't have to hug me back," she says, smiling.

"I'm very bad at it," he says. "I'm sorry. I don't want you to think I don't like you."

She laughs then, and puts her arms around him once more. "Have you _seen_ your smile, Hideo? It's better than any hug."

"Oh," he says, and realizes he's smiling down at her right now, feels the smile widen. "Thank you."

"I hope you feel better," she says.

He pats her shoulder with his good arm. It's awkward, but he no longer really minds. "I do," he says.

* * *

He's at Brooklyn when she wins the title: sick at heart to not be competing, but there to support Finn and keep Liger away from Breeze and just be part of it all, at least a little. He steps out into the crowd to experience it, to feel the roar in his marrow, to watch as Bayley struggles to fight with her injured hand. He jumps to his feet along with everyone else when she pulls off that Bayley-to-belly suplex, and his scream of joy mingles with fifteen thousand others when she makes the pin and the bell rings.

He's still high on adrenaline when he sees her backstage. "Bayley!" he yells, and she sees him and her eyes light up.

She flings herself at him, and he isn't even thinking about it at all, he's only aware of his happiness and her triumph, and his arms go around her perfectly as hers lock around his neck. She's crying and laughing as he swings her around, and he is too, and it's only when he puts her back down that he realizes he's done it, he's actually done it.

She kisses him on the cheek and hugs him tighter for a moment. He savors it. So many sadnesses and disappointments, so many triumphs and joys. The way lives interlock and separate and come back together, just like their arms around each other. He wants to tell her how he feels, he wants to express it in all its complicated glory: his love of this crazy business, his hopes and fears for the future, his pride and his delight.

"Congratulations," he says instead, but she smiles up at him and he knows she understands it all. "Congratulations," he says again, and it's enough.


End file.
